Friday, February 09, 2007

CrossFit

My recent interest in Parkour has led me to discover CrossFit. What is CrossFit, you ask? It's a training...um, philosophy...paradigm...approach...that aims to promote functional fitness by specializing in not specializing. The idea is to train the body not for one specific task, but for any activity one might encounter in "real life." The way it works is that the trainer---CrossFit.com, one of its affiliates, or a certified trainer---provides a Work-Out of the Day (WOD) each day, which the trainee then follows. The workouts can include low-rep weight training, high-rep weight training, bodyweight exercises, running, rowing, balance exercise, or agility work. (Most of the WODs do not repeat, but a few benchmark routines do infrequently recur, to allow the trainee to measure his or her progress, if any.) Additionally, the trainee is encourage to learn and participate in new sports. For more detail, check out the first issue of the CrossFit Journal.

I've been following the WOD---when I wasn't taking a Parkour class or taking the surprisingly challenging yoga class with Alison---for the last couple of weeks. The workouts are challenging, and I'm enjoying the variety so far. So, if you are looking for a new sport, I encourage you to check it out.